Quick-Start Guide for the DragonBoard™ 8060

This is a brief guide to creating a Pragmatux Workstation development
environment and Pragmatux Device filesystem images for the DragonBoard™ 8060
target. See the more general and thorough Pragmatux
Users Manual to learn the magic behind these steps, and consult the
Pragmatux Users Manual for DragonBoard 8060
for topics specific to the DragonBoard 8060.

Setup a Pragmatux Workstation

The development environment for creating programs, packages, and filesystem
images is a desktop, laptop, or server running the Squeeze version of the
Debian Linux distribution. That environment is called the workstation. The
DragonBoard is called the device.

The workstation need not be a physical machine; it is common to use a
virtual machine or a chroot within another operating system; however,
the workstation must be of the amd64 architecture.

Have the package management system read the contents of the package
sources

# apt-get update

For now, ignore the warning about the inability to verify the authenticity of
the Emdebian package repository. This will be rectified in a future step.

Install the development tools for DragonBoard 8060

# apt-get install ptux-workstation-db8060

This will install tens of packages containing the tools and code
libraries essential for cross-development targeting the DragonBoard. Answer
“yes” when prompted whether to continue, despite the warning about the
inability to authenticate several of the packages.

Create device filesystem images

Compose a filesystem using the default set of packages

$ mkdir wrk
$ cd wrk
$ fakeroot mkos-db8060

This will create two files, boot.img containing the kernel and initramfs, and
ptux.img containing the root filesystem. They will be written to the
DragonBoard’s eMMC storage in subsequent steps.

When invoked without arguments, mkos-db8060 composes a filesystem for the
DragonBoard using a predefined list of packages. Via arguments, this list
can be modified and extended to define a customized filesystem for each
project using DragonBoard.

Packages can be added to and removed from a running device using the
package management tools which are included in the base image.

Write device filesystem images to eMMC storage

Put DragonBoard 8060 into fastboot mode

While holding down the #5 key on the keypad, boot the DragonBoard
by cycling power. Release the key shortly thereafter. The
DragonBoard bootloader will pause in fastboot mode, listening to
commands from a fastboot client. (Unfortunately, there is no output
on the LCD or on the serial console to indicate that the device is in
fastboot mode).

Connect the DragonBoard USB device port to the workstation and verify
connectivity

After making the USB connection and giving workstation a few seconds to
enumerate the new device, run the fastboot client to verify connectivity to the
bootloader. If the client is able to talk to the bootloader, it will print the serial
number of the DragonBoard.

# fastboot devices
b1732aaf fastboot

Write kernel and initramfs to boot partition

Using the fastboot client on the workstation, write the boot.img image
containing the kernel and initramfs to the partition named boot.

# fastboot flash boot boot.img

Write root filesystem image to userdata partition

Using the fastboot client on the workstation, write the ptux.img image
containing the root filesystem to the partition named userdata.

# fastboot flash userdata ptux.img

Now the operating system has been installed on DragonBoard and it is ready
to be booted for the first time.

Connect a serial terminal

The DragonBoard’s DE9 connector is connected to the primary serial line,
which is used as the system console, to which kernel messages are directed
and on which a command shell may be started. The serial line parameters are
115200-8-N-1 (115200 bits per second, 8 data bits, no parity bit, and 1
stop bit) at RS-232 signaling levels. The connector uses a DCE pin-out.

Use whatever serial terminal software and hardware you prefer; the instructions
below are for a Pragmatux workstation using a USB-to-serial adapter.

Connect a straight-through RS-232 serial cable between the DragonBoard’s
DE9 connector and the USB-to-serial adapter.

Boot DragonBoard for the first time

Reset the DragonBoard by cycling power. Within seconds, the newly installed
kernel should boot and write considerable output to the serial console. The
very first time the operating system starts, it will go through a minute-long
installation procedure and automatically restart the board.

The installation generates much debugging, informational, and warning output
due to the unusual state of the system at installation time and the
inconsistent use of logging levels by several of packages being installed.
While ignoring warnings is normally a bad practice, novice users can safely
ignore warnings in this output when installing a default configuration unless
the system fails to behave as expected after the after the first boot.

On the second and all subsequent boots, a login prompt leading to a command
shell is offered on the serial port. The only account which exists
following a basic installation is root with the password password.